U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says his frequent visits to Colorado are not a coincidence.

“I continue to be encouraged by Colorado, continue to want to learn from the Colorado example and continue to think Colorado could do a tremendous amount to lead the country where we need to go, quite frankly,” Duncan said in a telephone interview with The Denver Post.

Duncan is in Denver on Friday to talk about the administration’s push for universal preschool and about how making college more affordable could raise attendance and completion rates for Latinos.

“Obviously, we are working really, really hard to try and dramatically expand access to early childhood education,” Duncan said. “It’s one of the most important things that we can do to try to close what I call the opportunity gap. So, I’ve been traveling, it seems like everywhere, working on this.”

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